Camp property found, now updates.

[Jstpssng]

I never stated what the current well depth is and do not know it. The owner put it in, likely with a hammer knocking a sand point down. I would guess far less than 40ft. The driller did say he put in his close-by neighbors well in that was nearly 500ft deep. Plus he said there was variety of water formation depths in the area.

That doesn't sound as bad as it first did. My first thought was a drilled well 8 feet from septic... That's a good way to pollute your water table.

Scary thing about drilled wells is that you don't know for sure how far down you'll go until he gets there.

 

[ArlyA]

That doesn't sound as bad as it first did. My first thought was a drilled well 8 feet from septic... That's a good way to pollute your water table.

Scary thing about drilled wells is that you don't know for sure how far down you'll go until he gets there.

He did, but I don't know how deep the point is. I'd guess shallow.

 

[ArlyA]

Dearest spent time reading thought the maze of safe water regulations written by an attorney and did find verbiage which made us think we could use a potable system or tank in this cabin and still be code. As the cabin's well and septic is set up now, we had no intention of drinking it anyway. Next week we will stop by the department of health and ask them about it. Ironically she worked for this government office for 7 years.

 

[paulsharvey]

Guys, I'll try recall the well details the drilling guy told me. ------------------------------
Minim well depth was 40ft and most wells he does in that are are 40-50ft.

Minim distance between well and septic system is 50ft. This one is like 8!

A asked the driller about using the current system as non-potable only and he said "you can't do that" .

No sure if we could put in a potable tank or not.

This is the post that got me confused I think; most wells he does in the area are 40-50 ft deep.

Regardless, is testing the existing well and it being grandfathered in an option?

 

[ArlyA]

This is the post that got me confused I think; most wells he does in the area are 40-50 ft deep.

Regardless, is testing the existing well and it being grandfathered in an option?

If you own it, its then grandfathered in, but when you get a bank loan, they want it to code.

 

[ericm979]

Wait; I'm confused; we might need to go 500ft, but then in a few posts down, most in the area are 50-60 ft? Are we missing a zero, did we add a zero, or is this specific property unique (top of a mountain), that neighbors are 50-60, but yours will need to be 500 ft; or am I miss reading everything?

Our Oregon property had a hand dug well on it that was 30' or 40' deep. Then a drilled well that was 250' or so. Both of them tested at about 1.5 gpm over 4 hours. The lender (and ourselves) wanted better flow. We had a well drilled and it needed 500'.

The geology there is really variable. Well records are on line. There are neighboring properties that have 300' wells that deliver 25 gpm on the usual homeowner casing size, and some that are deeper and only get 2 gpm.

 

[paulsharvey]

Is a well test being required for a lender common? I wasn't required to have more than the foundation certification, a 4 point wind-roof inspection, and appraisal. I did have the option of well, septic, insulation, and some others, but they were not required for the loan.

 

[ArlyA]

Dearest spent time reading thought the maze of safe water regulations written by an attorney and did find verbiage which made us think we could use a potable system or tank in this cabin and still be code. As the cabin's well and septic is set up now, we had no intention of drinking it anyway. Next week we will stop by the department of health and ask them about it. Ironically she worked for this government office for 7 years.

Dearest did remind me that code depth here is 50ft is minim. (correction, code here is minim of 25ft)

 

[ericm979]

Is a well test being required for a lender common?

The bank required it for our place in CA 27 years ago, and the Oregon place this year. It might be a west coast thing.

 

[ArlyA]

Is a well test being required for a lender common? I wasn't required to have more than the foundation certification, a 4 point wind-roof inspection, and appraisal. I did have the option of well, septic, insulation, and some others, but they were not required for the loan.

They do here.

 

[Snobdds]

I never stated what the current well depth is and do not know it. The owner put it in, likely with a hammer knocking a sand point down. I would guess far less than 40ft. The driller did say he put in his close-by neighbors well in that was nearly 500ft deep. Plus he said there was variety of water formation depths in the area.

You couldn't tell he was lubing you up with the KY for his next victim...I mean customer.

 

[ArlyA]

We are meeting with a sanitarian at the Health Dept tomorrow. Will report back.

 

[2manyrocks]

Well water testing comes to mind. I remember being told about a local well near me that somebody had thrown a bunch of stuff into it that ruined it as a source of potable water. If well water was my only source of potable water, I'd want to get it tested.

 

[ArlyA]

Well water testing comes to mind. I remember being told about a local well near me that somebody had thrown a bunch of stuff into it that ruined it as a source of potable water. If well water was my only source of potable water, I'd want to get it tested.

We had planned to have it tested but the well is 8ft from the septic while code is 50ft. No reason to test it now, seems a new well need to be drilled.

 

[airbiscuit]

100%

 

[2manyrocks]

How would you decide about where to drill? My parents drilled for water in the 1960s. A guy came out with a dousing stick and told them where to drill. They found water about 500' down through quite a bit of rock. I always thought that it was really taking a gamble on the costs of drilling the well whether they'd find water.

 

[LittleBittyBigJohn]

Would it be easier or cheaper (legal?) to move the septic vs the well? Seems like septic has less specialized tools for install. I got my whole septic run brand new for under $5,000 if I'm remembering correctly.

But then you would reallllllllly want that water test since there would be residuals. Then thinking more on it, there would be extra contaminants if the tank was filled in possibly.

 

[ArlyA]

The meeting with the health department guys went well. They had No records of any wells in the camps area so they could not comment on there depths. The mystery continues.... So we are trying to contact the closet camp and ask about there well. Its not fall, maybe 500ft away.

 

[ArlyA]

Would it be easier or cheaper (legal?) to move the septic vs the well? Seems like septic has less specialized tools for install. I got my whole septic run brand new for under $5,000 if I'm remembering correctly.

But then you would reallllllllly want that water test since there would be residuals. Then thinking more on it, there would be extra contaminants if the tank was filled in possibly.

Probably not. Most sand points have short lives, like 20 years and tend to have poor flow all the time. I'd guess this well is 15 years old already..

 

[ArlyA]

The driller responded and said where the 500ft well is located and it is close by. Looks like we'll be out there is weekend to get the locations number and give it to the sanitarian dept.. The new camp down the road which is pretty close by I got in touch with its owner yesterday. He has a newish sand point well there and gets limited, and gray water from his. Also said he wished to have a better well.